he says Neither Eye hath seen nor Ear hath heard nor has it enter'd into the Heart of Man to conceive what God has prepar'd for those that Love him The End of the Second Book THE LIFE OF THE LADY WARNER In RELIGION Sister CLARE of IESVS THE THIRD BOOK CHAP. I. The Ceremony of their Profession at Graveling HAving dispos'd and prepar'd themselves by Eight Days Retirement for this last and solemn act of their Profession they proceeded to the Ceremony Which being out of Practice in England since it 's unhappy fall from the Roman Catholic Faith I thought it would not prove tedious or ungrateful to the curious and Devout Reader to peruse that at least in English he cannot see in England That such as have heard of a Religious Profession and scarce know what it means may hereby be inform'd what it is Father Thomas VVorsley being impower'd by Reverend Father Iohn Clarke Provincial of the Society of Iesus in England to receive Brother Clare's Profession and having also receiv'd Command from the Bishop of St. Omers to assist in his place whilst Sister Clare of Iesus made her Vows He upon the First Day of November on which the Holy Catholic Church Celebrates the Feast of All-Saints in the Year of Our Lord 1667 about Nine of the Clock in the Morning said Mass in the Church of the English Monastry of the Poor Clares of Graveling which was throng'd with all sorts of Persons The Grate of the Quire was left open where Sister Clare kneel'd in her Ranck amongst the rest of the Nuns And a Praying place was set within the Communion Rails on the Gospel side of the Altar for Brother Clare to kneel upon during the time of Mass When Father VVorsley had taken the Communion himself he turn'd about holding in his hand the Sacred Body of our Savior at which time Brother Clare ris ' from the Praying place and kneeling down before the Father in the middle of the lowest Altar-step with a loud and distinct Voice he recited his Vows in Latin English'd as follows I Iohn Clare make Profession and promise to Almighty God in Presence of his Virgin Mother the whole Celestial Court all here present and to you Reverend Father Thomas VVorsley in lieu of Reverend Father General of the Society of Iesus and his Successors holding the place of Christ perpetual POVERTY CHASTITY and OBEDIENCE and according to it a particular care of Teaching Children answerable to the form of living contain'd in the Apostolical Letters and Constitutions of the Society of Iesus At Graveling in the Church of the English Poor Clares the First Day of November 1667. Which having ended he Communicated from Father VVorsleys hands and then return'd to the Praying place finding an unspeakable comfort in his Soul Sister Clare who kneel'd in her usual place in the Quire being observ'd by Reverend Mother Abbess not so much as to move an Eye towards the Grate When Brother Clare ris ' to recite his Vows was order'd by her to go close to the Grate that she might the better see and hear him perform that Ceremony she went immediately to the Grate as Mother Abbess had order'd her but kept the same custody of Eyes as the Religious observ'd which she had done before not casting the least glance towards the Altar Mass being ended Father VVorsley went from the Altar up to the Doxal which is a large open Gallery before the Quire Grate made like a Balcony with Rails and Ballisters towards the Altar whether as many of the Company as it could contain follow'd him to see and hear Sister Clare of Iesus also make her Vows As soon as Father Worsley was come to the Quire on the right side of which Reverend Mother Abbess sat in an Arm'd Chair Sister Clare with a smiling and compos'd Countenance kneel'd down before the Grate having a Crucifix in her right hand and a lighted Wax Candle in her left The Father asked her VVhat she demanded She Answer'd Grace and Mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ and of you Reverend Father of you Reverend Mother Abbess and of you my dearly beloved Sisters I humbly beg out of my own free and deliberate VVill in Honor of and by the bitter Death and Passion of our Lord Iesus Christ by the Merits of the most Glorious Virgin Mary of our Holy Father St. Francis our Holy Mother St. Clare and of all the Holy Saints that you will vouchsafe to receive me to Holy Profession For if the whole VVorld were mine I have chosen and am ready to abandon it all to be here one of your Poor Children thô most unworthy Then Father VVorsley desir'd her to consider well the Obligation she was about to take upon her of perpetual Poverty Chastity Obedience and Inclosure to the observance of which having once tyde her self by Vow she was oblig'd during her whole Life and could never be freed from this obligation and therefore askt her VVhether she still persever'd in asking what she before demanded To which she Answer'd That she still demanded the same Then he asked her VVhether she thought her self to have sufficient strength of Body to undertake that State And whether she knew of any impediment that might hinder her from undergoing so rigorous a course of Life as she was about to undertake She Answer'd him That she knew of none and did not doubt but that God who had call'd her to this State would give her his Grace and Strength to go through the rigors of it Lastly he askt her How Old she was She told him She was One and Thirty Years of Age. Then the Father began the Veni Creator or Hymn of the Holy Ghost which the Quire went on withal to the Versicle which the Father Read aloud Send forth thy Spirit and they shall be Created the Quire Answering And thou shalt renew the face of the Earth Then the Father recited the following Prayer of the Holy Ghost O God who didst instruct the Hearts of the Faithful by the Illumination of the Holy Ghost Grant that by the same Spirit we may have a right understanding in all things and evermore rejoyce in his Holy consolation Through our Lord Iesus Christ c. Then the Father said Pray for us O Mother of God The Quire Answer'd That we may be made partakers of the Promises of Christ O Lord God we beseech thee grant us thy Servants to enjoy perpetual health of mind and body And by the glorious Intercession of the ever Blessed Virgin Mary to be delivered from this present sorrow and to enjoy gladness everlasting Through our Lord c. Amen Then the Father said Pray for us Holy Father St. Francis the Quire Answer'd That we may be made worthy of the pomises of Christ O God who dost increase thy Church by the birth of the new Progeny of St. Francis grant us by his imitation to despise all Earthly things and to rejoyce in the participation of thy Celestial gifts through Christ our
with bad Mony and indeed we have no other make a Divine Commerce an Eternal Bargain with God whereby your Will which is a free Spiritual and an Immortal Power Mistress of her self and of all the other Powers does from this moment for ever destine imploy and apply all the parts and peices of your Being to be as the hand of a Dial that shows the hour a perpetual Remembrance Congratulation Thanksgiving and Iubilation for all the Praises Homages Respects and Adorations which all Creatures give or shall eternally give to God for the love he bears to himself to the end you may Adore and Glorifie him in this Spirit and love him with that eternal love which alone is worthy of him And God will shew you as much good will and give you as great a reward for it as if you your self did give all the Offerings Sacrifices and Blessings which Men and Angels give him in Heaven and Earth Nay the Will that has an Infinity for it's Object may make all the Individuals of Human and Angelical Natures all the motions of Soul and Body Nay even all Created Beings to an Atome or grain of Sand concur to so noble a work Good God how admirable profitable and Divine is this exercise which costs nothing at all and may be compleated in a moment And what Treasures of Glory does a Man loose that is either ignorant of it or neglects it Whilst he is busied in so many things whilst he is sad or joyful upon account of different accidents without referring them to God as their Origin Since in him they are eternal infinite and most perfect and out of him they are nothing but vanity and lys that is finite corruptible and subject to an infinity of changes Dear Sister stop a while here view this Spirit of Vnity which is the Spirit of God himself which gathers divided and dis-united things into one to draw us out of multiplicity and the imperfection of nature into this holy Vnion with a Transformation into himself Which makes one contrary to be found in the other the Creature in God Perfection in Imperfection Vnity in Multiplicity Light in Darkness Peace in War Recollection in Distraction Sweetness in the Cross Abundance in Poverty Life in Death Corporal in Spiritual God in All and All in Him Do not mistake me I beseech you in thinking that because God changes so often his manner of proceeding with you he is not still yours and you his dive by the light of Faith into the darkness where he hides himself penetrate the Veiles of Bodies and Spirits with which he covers himself see him act in all his Creatures giving them their determinate motion who is properly their Life and Being Not a Hair presents it self unto our Eyes without his sight and permission to the end that that lively and active Faith of yours may see him in his Images and Characters as we see a Saint in his Cloaths or a Friend in Imagination whilst we behold his Picture that repairs the weakness of our Memory Dear Sister make the last effort imitate a King who to Establish himself and to Reign peaceably in a Kingdom newly Conquer'd fills every place with horror and desolation Puts to the Sword not only such as oppose his designs but even rids himself of his suspected Friends for fear of some Treasonable surprize In like manner do you kill and destroy all your Sworn Enemies Annihilate all your desires and Passions take leave even of what appears Vertue and Perfection because they make a noise and pudder and cause more Smoak and distracttion than they augment the fire of Love Bid Love enter into it's source cause Humility to keep love Company or debase it self below Lucifer and desire your Friends to sleep and take their repose since the Son of Man goes to be abandoned forsaken and Crucified to Establish God alone in All and through All. His Dominion and Empire in a Soul in Grace is the Creating Essence or the very Essence of the Creator I have made an Epitome of the Nothing of all things and of the All of God which Practice will better explain than reason I hope this at present is sufficient to assure you of the Affection of him who is as much as any one in the World except your Brother Clare Dear Sister Your most humble and most affectionate Servant in God RUISSON Herke Iuly 13. 1669. To show with what Humility and how briefly and solidly she reply'd to this excellent Letter I will here set down her Answer Translated out of French which contains a great deal of substance in a few words SIR I Confess 't is a good while since I receiv'd your welcome Letter which my indisposition hinder'd me till now from Answering Please but to obtain for me some of that true and pure love of God which you so well discourse of and so faithfully practice that animated thereby I may be able to suffer sickness or whatever God pleases to send me with such a perfect submission and Vnion to his Divine Will as that I may become intirely his and then I shall be better able to converse with you for at present I am unworthy of such a Conveâ—sation but must own that when 't is God's Will to move you to Write to me I both receive and read your Letters with a great deal of comfort yet cannot desire this or any thing else but that his Holy Will should be done in all things Amen SIR Your most unworthy Servant CLARE of JESUS For the Love of God and the Blessed Virgin Pray for me CHAP. VIII A Short Account of some remarkable passages in the Life and Death of Mr. Ruisson SInce Mr. Ruisson's Letter set down in the foregoing Chapter as you have seen contains so much Spirit and Devotion I think it will be no unpardonable digression if I add a word or two concerning himself that the Reader may be convinced that this Servant of God practized what he Taught and thereby be induc'd to set a high value and estimate as well upon his Person as upon his Doctrin and also conceive a higher esteem of Sister Clare since a Person so Illuminated and favor'd by God as he was exprest so high an esteem of her and such a Zeal to serve her in so earnestly promoting her advancement in Perfection and the service of God Take for a mark of his Humility a Vertue that is the foundation of all Perfection the humble Letter he Writ to Brother Clare then Studying Philosophy at Liege in which he inclosed the foresaid Letter unsealed where after all the pains he had taken in Writing it and in obtaining light from Heaven without which such a Letter could not be Writ left the sending or burning it intirely to him confiding more in the Judgment of others than his own a great mark of Humility and of the true Spirit of God His Letter follows Translated out of Latin in which it was Writ Dearest Brother in
Lord Amen Father Pray for us O Blessed Mother St. Clare Quire That we may be made worthy of the pomises of Christ O Lord we beseech thee to make us who Honor the Memory of the Holy Virgin St. Clare by her Intercession partakers of Celestial joys and Co-heirs of thy only begotten Son who lives and Reigns with thee World without end Amen Then the Father Blessed the Veil as follows Father May our help be in the Name of our Lord. Quire VVho made Heaven and Earth Father O Lord hear my Prayer Quire And let my cry come unto thee Father The Lord be with you Quire And with your Spirit Let us Pray O Lord we humbly beseech thee that thy powerful blessing may descend upon this Veil wherewith the head of thy Handmaid is to be cover'd that it may become blessed and holy to her through Christ our Lord. Amen O Mnipotent and Everlasting God we humbly beseech thy Sacred Majesty to Sanctifie with thy right hand this Veil which thy Servant is about to put on her head that thy Mercy assisting her she may keep with an undefiled Body and Mind that Vow of Chastity Mistically represented by this Veil by which out of Love to thee and thy Sacred Virgin Mother she dedicates her self to thy Holy Service that prepar'd hereby she may joyn her self to thy Train of Virgins and deserve to be led by thee to the Everlasting Nuptials of the Lamb who livest and Reignest World without end Amen Then he blessed the Ring as follows LOrd Iesus Christ the lover of true Chastity and perpetual Fidelity we humbly beseech thy Immense Clemency that thou wouldst bless this Ring thy Servant is about to put on and grant that she being Espous'd by this pledge may persever thy Loyal Spouse by so unspotted a Chastity that she may deserve to be adorn'd with the gift of this Vertue and enrich'd with it's Hundred-fold fruit who livest and reignest c. These Prayers being ended the Quire recited the Litanies of the Saints Petitioning each of them to Pray for the Bride and having ended the last Kirie Eleison or Lord have Mercy upon us The Father began the two first words of the Pater Noster saying the rest to himself till he came to the following words And lead us not into Temptation which he said aloud and the Quire Answer'd but deliver us from Evil Amen Then the Father said Lord save thy Servant Quire VVho my God places her trust in thee Father Send her help from thy Sanctuary Quire And from Sion defend her Father Be to her a Tower of strength Quire To defend her from the face of her Enemies Father Let not the Enemy prevail against her Quire Nor the Son of Iniquity be able to hurt her Father Lord hear my Prayer Quire And let my cry come unto thee Father The Lord be with you Quire And with your Spirit Then the Father said the following Prayers LEt our humble Petitions O Lord appear in thy presence and vouchsafe to bless thy Servant to whom in thy Holy Name we give the Veil of Religion and by the Intercession of the most blessed and most glorious Virgin Mary of the Blessed Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul St. Francis St. Clare and all the other Saints grant her a perfect Conversion from the World and so ferverous an observance of what she has undertaken that in all her Tribulations Streights and Temptations being encourag'd by thy Divine Consolation and by true Humility and Obedience being founded in fraternal Charity she may justly piously and Chastly perform what by thy assistance she does this Day promise and thereby deserve to enjoy with thee Everlasting Life Who with the Father and Holy Ghost livest and reignest God World without end Amen O Lord Iesus Christ who art the way out of which none can come to the Father we beseech thy most benign Clemency that thou wouldst lead this thy Servant whom thou hast drawn from Terrene and carnal desires into the secure way of regular Discipline and since thou vouchsafest to call Sinners to thee saying Come unto me all ye that labor and I will refresh you grant that the Voice of this your Invitation may have so much Power over her as that laying down the burden of her Sins she may deserve to taste how great and good you are and by this your Divine refection be inabl'd to sustain your Chastisements for them And as thou hast vouchsaft to attest saying I know my Sheep and my Sheep know me acknowledge her for thine and grant that she may so know thee and follow thee and only thee that she may never give Ear to or obey anothers Voice who hast promis'd that whosoever obeys and serves thee here shall follow thee hereafter who livest and reignest c. Then the Father bid the Bride repeate thrice the following words out of the 118 Psalm Receive me according to thy promises and I shall live and do not disappoint me of my expectation which she having done with a loud and distinct Voice and the Abbess having as often Answer'd My dearest Daughter let it be done unto you according to your words the Quire Answer'd Amen Then the Bride kneel'd down before the Abbess and joyning her hands together plac't them betwixt the Abbesses and both their hands thus joyn'd were tyed together with such a Stole as the Priest wears about his Neck at Mass and is a Representation of those Cords wherewith our Savior out of Love to us permitted himself to be bound in his Passion and therefore the Bride mov'd with a Memory of this his Love permits her hands to be thus bound to represent those Interior bands by which she ties her self whilst she makes her Sacred Vows and her hands are also bound to Mother Abbesses as a mark of that tye of Obedience to her Will which she undertook and then with a loud and distinct Voice she made her Profession as follows In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen I Sister Clare of Iesus do Vow unto Almighty God the most Glorious Virgin Mary Our Holy Father St. Francis Our Holy Mother St. Clare unto all the Holy Saints and to you Reverend Mother Abbess and all your Successors that shall hold your Place to observe all the Day 's of my Life the Rule and Form of living of the Poor Sisters of St. Clare giv'n her by St. Francis and Confirm'd by Our Holy Father Pope Innocent the IV. I Vow to live in OBEDIENCE without PROPRIETY in any thing in CHASTITY also and not to go out of INCLOSURE during my whole Life according to the Constitutions of the same Rule Then the Abbess said And I on the part of God according to his Inviolable Decree do promise you Eternal Life if you observe what you have Vow'd To which the Quire Answer'd Amen Then the Abbess saluted the Bride and taking off her White Veil put on a Black one saying Take Daughter
Fathers sake The Solemnity being over one askt her how it was possible that beholding the great Commotion and Tears of so many about her she could remain so chearful and unconcern'd as she seem'd to be during the whole Ceremony She Answer'd with a Spirit as full of Ingenuity as Humility That this constancy and chearfulness took their rise from no other source than the Divine Goodness which during the whole Ceremony had fil'd her heart with so great an Interior peace and comfort as she had never felt before in all her Life Which was a due reward for that generous oblation she had that Day made of her self to Almighty God Had the Person who askt her this Question propos'd the same to any one of the Religious they would have given an Answer quite different from hers which her Humility would not permit her to give The Religious had seen with how much Industry even from her first entrance into Religion she had made it her chief endeavour to suppress and overcome the Sallies and Efforts of Nature and had beheld her comportment in several other occasions and seen with how great a Courage she had behav'd he self in other tryals which God thought fit to send her during her Noviship to dispose her to a due performance of this great act of Love and therefore they were not so surpriz'd as those were who had only seen that one action of hers they having been Eye Witnesses of divers evidences she had given of her perfect and intire resignation to Gods Holy Will even in the greatest afflictions and most sensible tryals that could have happen'd to her Now the Reader that may the better perceive how she carry'd her self in them I will here set down a Relation of her behaviour and perfect Conformity to Gods Will at the Death of two of her dearest friends The first tryal of her Conformity was given her by the Death of Reverend Mother Luisa Taylor Abbess of the Monastry The History of whose Life deserves a Volum being a person of an absolute and consummated Vertue This Holy Abbess being suddenly seiz'd with violent symtoms of Death was piously expecting her last happy moment and all the Religious were sent for and came without the least delay except Sister Clare who being advertis'd by one of the Religious that came in great hast to her Cell that Reverend Mother Abbess was a dying and that if she did not come quickly she would never see her alive Sister Clare joyning her hands without the least surprize made a bow to her expressing thereby her gratitude for the Message she brought her it being their Custom never to speak in their Cells and without making any such hast as might occasion the omission even of the least or most inconsiderable Ceremony of Religion she first put on her great Veil then kist the ground and afterwards with a modest and graceful gate follow'd the Religious to the Infirmary where Mother Abbess lay a dying as if this sad News had not at all come unexpected or given her the least affliction She came into the Chamber where her dear Friend and tender Mother lay ready to expire and where she found all the Religious bath'd in Tears like so many tender hearted Children bemoaning the loss of their dying Mother yet she who was like to sustain as great a loss as any having had a great dependance upon her and receiv'd great comfort from her Counsels beheld her ready to leave her without shedding a Tear whilst all the rest seem'd to be in a very great affliction and general consternation and so concern'd as if all their happiness had depended on this Abbesses Life Sister Clare knew her great Vertues and worth and had no less respect and affection for her than they which the many Obligations she had receiv'd from her justly deserv'd yet for all this she shewed not the least outward sign of grief And when one of the Religious exprest hers by her many Tears for Reverend Mother Abbesses Death she efficaciously stopt them by the following words VVeep not so much Dear Sister 't is the VVill of God you love so well Her bearing this cross with so admirable a Conformity mov'd Almighty God to reward her by sending another equally sensible and at the same time to give her his Divine Grace to bear it with no less constancy It was the Death of her Mistress of Novices Sister Mary Bonaventure Carleton who thô she had had a long experience in training up the Novices in perfection yet us'd to say She learnt more from this than ever she had taught the rest finding her perfect even before she enter'd into the way of perfection which made her have a very great esteem of her confidence in her and affection for her looking upon her as sent from Heaven rather to perfect her than be perfected by her Sister Clare being of a grateful nature was no ways backward in her returns and looking upon her as the best of friends and plac'd her confidence in her as in a Mother But God by her surprizing Death almost as soon snatcht away this comfort as he had given it which cross Sister Clare supported with the like courage as she did the former even without the loss of a Tear Insomuch that being ask'd by a Person of Quality Madam Flavecoeur the Governors Lady of Graveling If she were not very much concern'd for the Death of her Mistress She Answer'd Yes Madam I have a great feeling of it and indeed more than I can well express These words and the manner of delivering them struck the Lady with admiration to see such a temper as did not shed a Tear when she had thus renewed the sorrowful thoughts of the loss of her Mistress and mov'd her to urge the matter a little farther and ask her How it was possible she could forbear weeping at the Remembrance of the loss of such a friend The good Novice for then she was not Profest told her after her sweet and affable way Madam nothing but God deserves our Tears who is so good as to hinder me from paying them where they are not due Such as knew not of how excellent and sweet a disposition Sister Clare was might perhaps think so great an insensibility as appear'd in such moving circumstances as I have related effects of an ill hard and ungrateful nature which was insensible of kindness and knew not either what friendship was how to value it what gratitude it requires or how much a Spiritual friendship exceeds that of Nature ordinarily grounded upon Sympathy Natural inclination or Interest and therefore perhaps might not much wonder at her comportment in the occasions I have related But those who by Reading her Life are made better acquainted with her humor and have seen how solidly she grounded her friendship how warily she engag'd her affection and with what constancy and tenderness upon all occasions she exprest it to those she had made choice of for
and Immortality and in a perfect Vnion with God but from the moment he endeavour'd to raise himself to the light of knowledge he lost himself in it's darkness and became Criminal because he desir'd a greater knowledge than God had bestowed upon him So commonly the greatest Schollars and most piercing Wits do not make the humblest and greatest Saints Learning is a Tyrant that never failes to persecute them that possess it It perverts their Wills casts them into Pride and presumption and now and then into the Abyss of Heresie and Apostacy Hence it is that God has founded the Maxims of Faith upon his word whose chief Mysteries and most necessary to Salvation are incomprehensible that he might make the way to Heaven equally easie to the Learned and ignorant to great and small and so hold our Iudgments in a perfect Vnion with all he should propose by his Church Moreover in this blind Obedience one may testifie a greater fidelity and practice more Vertue there being less of self love and satisfaction and more courage and generosity in an humble acknowledgment of our ignorance such as St. Paul made when he said He knew nothing but Christ Crucified and that he had no other knowledge than what he had learnt at the foot of the Cross than by being Master of a greater knowledge than the greatest Doctors of the Church were inspir'd with Wherefore Dear Sister study fidelity more than knowledge value Faith more than Life and Love more than curiosity which Love operates in you the Vnion you desire and has made you like Abraham leave your House your Country and even those tender and Sacred Friendships which were permitted you to enjoy in the World To the end that this Vnion might be so much the stronger and more pure and that God might have an intire possession of your heart which he before possessed but by halves Dear Sister this absolute leaving all you possest by your Profession in the face of the Church this generous submitting your self for time and Eternity to the disposal of the Divine Providence this blind Obedience to the Voice of your Spouse whom you have follow'd does not only unite you to him but dispose you to a perfect annihilation of your self by which one comes to a kind of Deiformity which is the Kingdom of God in a Soul when abandoning her own knowledge lights desires and will she plunges her self with all the effects both of her natural and supernatural Being into him that henceforth she may say with St. Paul Vivo ego jam non ego vivit verò in me Christus I live now 't is not I that live but Christ that lives in me all her works being in a manner Gods operations 'T is then when a Soul is arriv'd to this place that God is her Life her Being her Light and her Love 't is then that he works in her all things she neither knowing the end nor cause of them And this shews the possibility of not loosing God a moment without a continual remembrance of him or an apprehension of his presence he who has his heart and eyes continually upon you as if you were the Object of his happiness cannot loose you for an instant you have therefore nothing to loose because he is your All and you cannot loose any thing because you possess him who is all things and because you have left off what you were in appearance and in your own judgment that he alone might raign and triumph in you and be All in All to you Besides a Soul in Grace can neither forget nor loose God for one single moment as well according to nature her Memory and Will being an indivisible part of her self and without parts as according to God who is her Treasure the Memory of her Memory and the Will of her Will which Powers being united to and lost in God have no more any Being or Action of their own all their operations Exterior and Interior being from God and in God so that loss or gain forgetting or remembring must be the same to you for if the actual and perceptible remembring which passes by the sense and imagination were profitable for you he loves you too well to substract it from you for a moment It is not therefore this exterior Image represented to sense that you ought to stop at but rather at that Interior and Eternal Memory which resides in the bottom of your Soul and is continually in Action because the Principle of Life is in it and that is even the Life which makes it live for in the State of it's Vnion with the Body if cannot raise it self above what it sees and knows without the help of some Figure or Corporal Character or at least some shadow of matter which vanishes away by Faith as all other material transitory or corruptible things do Your Perfection therefore dear Sister consists in being what you are and doing what you do and in nothing else if God looked for more be would more hearken after your desires than his own Holy indifferency in a State of Life or Vocation is that which makes up every ones Perfection and Sanctification for to desire to be more than he has a mind we should be to gape after more than he has a mind to give not to be content with ones Portion to be unwilling to loose him a moment when he retires and hides himself from us on purpose to dis-unite us from all things whatever except from his Holy Will is an effect of self-love which instead of uniting us more and more to him doth rather separate and divide us from him It is a lamentable blindness of the greatest part of Spiritual Persons and rather hinders than augmâ—nts their Perfection when they let themselves be carried on with too great a heat and zeal to obtain it whereas they rather ought with patience and sweetness to expect it from the pure goodness and Grace of God How many Prayers Works of Charity Communions Watchings Labors Mortifications and Fasts will one Day crave Iustice against us For having done them by the Spirit of nature and to please our selves and rather follow'd our own fancy and opinion than the Will of God Which by the Prophet Isaiah 58.3 he complaines of He only requires from us proportionably to what he gives us and is satisfied with our doing his Will with a Purity of Intention rather than our own who Sanctifies even our defects in that single Relation they bear to his Orders and Eternal designs it is this which made St. Paul as well as St. Augustin say He did the evil he would not and did not the good he would at which he was not at all troubled knowing well that God does not impute to sin the failings of nature which are not free since love excuses them covers them blots them out and even turns them to our good and glory So that if you desire to profit by your own losses to buy Heaven
never recover from that sickness The only concern she had now left was for her Fathers Conversion and what would become of the Children after her Death which the thoughts of Brother Clares Death had for some time hinder'd her from thinking upon CHAP. XIII Her concern for her Father and Children She seeks her greater Mortification even to the last The Declaration of her satisfaction in her State of Life a little before her Death THe concern Sister Clare had been in for the suspected Death of Brother Clare and fright of her own being deluded had for some time made her forget her concern for her Father but no sooner were those apprehensions taken away but this return'd together with the apprehension least after her Death her Father should endeavour to prosecute his design of geting the Children into England and there perverting them from the Catholic Faith bring their Souls into as dangerous a condition as his own was in But now not being able to Write her self she desir'd one of the Religious to Write what she would dictate to her which she did in the following words SIR BEing at present unable to Write my self I am forced to make use of anothers hand to beg with my last breath a continuation of your kindness to me after my Death by giving your consent that my Children may be brought up in the place where they now live and that you would also please to reflect how unsafe the Religion you are of is to dye in and think before it be too late cf your Salvation This I crave of you for the bloody Passions sake of our dear Savior Your poor Child TREVOR HANMER At the beginning of her Letter she seem'd pleasant and chearful but before she came to the end of it the sadness of the subject had made her Heart also sad this Letter thô short is very expressive of her constant affection to her Father and concern for her Children wherein she to move him the more to grant what she asked made use of the most powerful Motives of our Saviors Passion and his own Affection which she endeavour'd to stir up by subscribing it with her Maiden Name Being in this weak condition we have mention'd notwithstanding the interior and exterior afflictions she suffer'd she had not forgot or lest off to Mortifie her self for she still practis'd it upon her dying Body out of too unreasonable a persuit I know not how to term it of self denyal and suffering refusing to ask that assistance which her condition requir'd but would sometimes lye three or four hours and very often for an hour with that stilness and quiet that one could not discern whether she were living or dead unless by her breath And all judged it to be no little pain for one in a Feaver to live so long without any manner of refreshment or change of posture which the Religious were still ready to give her but she never askt nay would scarce accept of when offer'd unless by Obedience This render'd the Religious rather sharers in her sufferings than inabl'd them to give her any comfort or solace in them And from this all that attended her were assur'd that she treated her Body in her sickness with no less rigor than she did in her health and that to her last breath she kept inviolably that purpose I find amongst others in her own hand For the love of God I will ever deny my self whatever is pleasing to me thô lawful for we and endeavour as much as Holy Obedience will permit to do all such things for his sake as shall be most contrary to my nature Let all Creatures love praise and honor Jesus Maria Joseph but let me be confounded A brave and Heroical resolution in which she exprest the constancy of her Love to God and contempt of her self A few days before her happy Death some of the Religious in the presence of the Doctor compassionated her present weakness for her Spirits were almost exhausted and her strength quite spent but the Doctor Answer'd That 't was no wonder to see her in that condition by reason of the many Austerities and Mortifications she had undergone and chiefly the violent combat she had often had with Nature of which he found evident Symptoms in her Body Sister Clare hearing this and thinking that some might infer from hence that all her Life in Religion had been troublesome and uneasie to remove this suspition and to undeceive those that were present especially the Doctor call'd God to Witness these following words I have so much content and satisfaction at present and always had in this State of Life that I voluntarily took upon my self as that were I again as free to choose as ever I would embrace This very condition and State of Life and no other Thô this was the last yet 't was not the only time she had signified her satisfaction in Religion and then also exprest a dislike to her former condition for being asked what mov'd her so to Mortifie her self She Answer'd That the Love she ow'd to God made her esteem all she did and suffer'd as nothing and render'd all the hardships of her present Rules most easie and pleasant adding That what is suffer'd even in the strictest Orders is nothing to what many VVorldlings often suffer even when in outward appearance they seem most happy A few hours before she dyed she desir'd that several Candles might be lighted and put within her Curtains which all wonder'd at because she had before expressed a difficulty and unwillingness to see any light But it seems that Almighty God mov'd her to desire this faint Representation of that Eternal Light she was going to possess For she immediately after with a smiling Countenance declining her Head in Mother Abbesses Breast without the least groan or sigh gave up her pure Soul into the hands of her Creator about Seven a Clock at Night upon the 26th of Ianuary and as she had liv'd in a constant practice so Providence would have her dye in the bosome of Obedience wherefore we may truly say her Death Answer'd her Life she lived a Saint and so she dy'd The End of the Third Book THE LIFE OF THE LADY WARNER In RELIGION Sister CLARE of IESVS THE FOVRTH BOOK CHAP. I. Marks whereby God gave evidence of her Vertuous Life after her Death THE bounty and liberality of God to his Servants is such that as they give signs of their Love towards him in their Life as well in Body as Soul so he often expresses marks of his after their Death not only to their Souls in Heaven making them partakers of his Beatifical Vision but also extends such marks of his Love to their Bodies still in this World as may signifie to us the happiness of their Souls in in the other This he expressed to Sister Clare Whose Countenance after her Death retain'd so Angelical and Ravishing a sweetness as made all the Community which came with sad